Wednesday 1st July

So again I was up and about early, two loads of washing in and on the airer, I found myself opening up the woodstore and unreeled the electric cable and fixed one of the old reels with the 'make-do' cable and took the machine to the bottom of the garden.  Earlier I'd taken the rubbish down to burn it but realised that there was a lot of very dry grass in the vicinity and that how it today started.  I did round the burning bin, did most of the top of the garden since there wasn't much grass there, worked my back to the demarcation line from the other day and now I can get down to the burning bin without having to tread my way through the long grass.  I used up most of the cable and didn't want too much strain on the machine so took the hedge trimmer and brought back the little bushes to their round shaped tops and it looks at last, fairly well kept.  There's just the rest of the grass to do and tomorrow I shall probably go into Kardjali to see if they have my cartridges or into another shop to see if I can find one for the other machine that I have.  I packed up outside but didn't pack everything away which I should have done and went inside.

I took the chicken that I had in the freezer in its various forms and put it into the slow cooker with the soup that I'd got from the restaurant yesterday.  It started on 'high' reduced to 'med' and by three I had a chicken rice soup that really stuck to your ribs.  I'd responded to a request that I go out to supper tonight with my dear friend who was once a student and we agreed that I would pick her up at six thirty and go to Makaza, a hotel restaurant complex in Momchilgrad.  I arrived as arranged, Mother was looking after her daughter who a month ago gave birth to her second child, father was holding the fort and said no when I asked him if he wanted to join us.  I drove to the restaurant, there was supposed to be live music which didn't start until we were about to leave, one man and his keyboard singing in a language that we didn't manage to work out.  Lovely evening, food was adequate, holiday dates more or less agreed and we've even thought where we might go.  Easy drive back through the forest and home for ten.....and now ready to take my Kindle up to bed with me and have an early night.  LN.....Need to get on with the garden but it's been a good day......LN

Thursday 2nd July

Not quite the day that I expected but in the end 'all's well that ends well'.  I was up for the usual early morning start, fed the cat, didn't bother feeding me until much later....I'd arranged to go to my favourite pool in Kardjali for a day of sun and swimming and it was working out OK.  Before that though we did some administration tasks, a ticket from Kardjali to Sofia had to be purchased and the task ticked off the list. I went to see if the reels for my strimmer had arrived and there were none in the shop so I shall be still using the old reels with my own cable but looking at the weather tonight, there won't be much strimming done tomorrow, it's just started to rain and it's predicted for the next two days.  Somebody forgot to tell the weather gods that it's summer.

We eventually got to the pool around ten thirty, there wasn't many people there and not many sunbeds out either.  It looks like it's been a slow season for the owner so far and it's been difficult for him to be ready to open.  We've had so much rain this year, it's been hard for some of the hotels.  There were only about ten people in the pool when I ventured forth, I was slow to get in and once in the water, it wasn't too cold at all.  First time I took it gingerly and did only a couple of widths, I was just testing out my reserves but felt OK, no problems reported.  We ordered lunch which was more expensive than predicted but the quantity was OK and presented well but there weren't many people deciding to eat out.  Back to the pool, the clouds had come over by this time, it wasn't raining yet but the clouds were building threatening things to come.  We packed up at four thirty after my final swim of about five widths, I'll check what feels different tomorrow and hopefully everything will be OK.  

We set off for Kardjali and then on to Djebel and half way between the two the engine overheated again the same as it had last week before it went into the garaged to be checked over.  There wasn't water pouring out of it this time so off we set again, stopped off at the garage but it was locked already so headed for home and half way home we had the same problem, the needle was off the chart, I opened the bonnet and there was water pouring from the engine.  I telephone my ex-student who has a pickup truck now, he came out, dropped us home and will deliver the Nipper to the garage for a full MOT.  My swim companion got into her car and drove off, my student drove the low loader to the place where we had left it and hopefully it's now in the garage and tomorrow it will be sorted.....otherwise I might be on the look-out for a 'new to me' car.  LN.....I'm thinking thermostat or water pump,,,,,his father will find out and let me know tomorrow....fingers crossed.....LN

Friday 3rd July

I was awake at half five this morning and really couldn't get back off to sleep.  I read for a while and was out on the terrace around half six looking for things to do and I found plenty but delayed starting anything, it was on with Netflix and finished off the last two episodes of a murder mystery, popped over to see Avatar, she'd slept in and then came back and made breakfast.  The weather wasn't looking all that good, there was rain in the air but I was determined to get the cushions out on the terrace furniture to make it look more presentable, found a flowerpot base and made it into a table just to put coffee on near the chairs, cut back the honeysuckle that was threatening the second chair and cleared the lounge door area so that at least you could get out of lounge onto the terrace.  

That done I phoned the car-shop around ten and asked if they had any new of the car but they didn't only that a new radiator cap had been taken down to the garage so I left them to it and eventually got an update around five this evening.  One other job I did was to put up a barrier so that the tortoise can't walk along the front of the house to the yard and then on to the terrace.  I've found a couple today that were looking for a way back to the garden but they're not bright enough to go back the way that they got there in the first place.  I've been carrying out a lift service down to the grass in front of the terrace, four times today I've been in different parts of the house and seen accidents about to happen.  It's almost worth putting a walkway with a side support so that they don't fall off down the steps but instead I put a barrier up along the back path so that they have to stay in the garden hence there should be no more wondering onto the front terrace.   Well the thought is good, there's probably one Houdini in the midst.

So at five I phoned the taxi man that took me to Plovdiv and he was with me in fifteen minutes and took me to the garage.  I think the garage undertook several tests but couldn't find anything apart from the radiator cap that caused the problem, I paid up, drove to the local supermarket to get some onions and garlic for Avatar and a few things for me, looked for my house keys since now the car key was on a ring of its own and realised that they weren't in my bag and so I phoned the taxi driver and he found them on the back seat.  I told him where I was, he said that he had a fare but would be with me in around ten minutes and he was just a little late.  He pulled up, dangled the keys from the window, I took the keys, handed him a tip and I went home and he went on to the next fare.  He's on my contact's list and will always be the first I call.  

I made jacket potatoes with cheese on the top in the microwave and added a touch of mayo.  It looks like we shall have more rain tonight but they're more like April showers than real rain.  LN.....Tomorrow I feel the grass is calling me, today I just wasn't in the mood....tomorrow is another day......LN

Saturday 4th July

Again it was a very early start but I did manage to make my 'jungle juice', move upstairs to the bedroom and go out on to my terrace to watch the sun come up.  It was hidden a long time behind the clouds but eventually it came up but it was in two minds whether to stay or be hidden.  Cat was lazing in the sun in front of the frog garden so I found out the chicken and rice from the slow cooker in the fridge, took out the chicken and the rice is in the rubbish waiting to be thrown and the bowl in the washing up.  At least now I have room in the fridge.  Cat ate most of it, just a little rice remained then took to the rest of the village for top ups.  I think most of us think that they own this cat....no one does.

I made toast and marmalade for breakfast and the mission today was to try to clear the little house grass and I gave it a good go.  I couldn't get the reels to work properly in the latest strimmer I bought, as I've mentioned before it needs special reels and again the store doesn't have them.  I think I shall have to order them from the internet and they'll probably arrive just before winter sets in.....maybe a little exaggeration but maybe not.  I seemed to bring everything into play, the grass mower that I have to keep my finger on the start button otherwise it stops, a really old strimmer that wouldn't take the cord and eventually the hedge trimmer which did the job and I managed to keep all my fingers and toes but it was hard work on the back.  The sun was really hot today and I was in full sun with the outcome that my neck and shoulders are now a deeper shade of brown than the rest of me but as I used to say to my children that it would even out after a few days.  I cleared up the debris and put it over the wall for the animals, I'd done the same with the cornflowers and poppies from the flower beds so they have lots to go at.  

Despite my 'Berlin wall' to stop the tortoise, two of them have run the barricades and I found one on the terrace and the other one was heading for the woodstore.  I've since moved the mesh and metal fencing, heard a rustle on the bushes on the wrong side of the makeshift fence but couldn't see it because of the density of the hedge in front of the wall.  I'll go out and check a little later or maybe it will 'break in' to the compound instead of breaking out.  I came in and had a shower and washed my hair, found a jellaba that I bought ages ago in Agadir, hanging in the bathroom.  I made a cheese and ham sandwich, took to the sofa at three and stayed there, had a sleep and found something to watch and still not sure if I'm enjoying it after a few episodes.  I've just been out to take a few more photos, Avatar came round to pay for the onions and garlic that I bought for her yesterday and we sat on the terrace on the benches enjoying the evening.  LN....More to do on the garden and I'm tempted to try the internet to see if I can order another machine to take down the rest of the long grass.....yet another one for the graveyard probably......LN

Sunday 5th July

Woke up again at silly o'clock but just couldn't get back to sleep.  I meandered downstairs and made a coffee and took it up on to the balcony and realised that the reason I couldn't get back to sleep was the howling of the dogs in the next village, they don't bark, that are hunting dogs, it's more like a howl.  I had two boiled eggs this morning for breakfast with toast, the garden was calling me and I was out there quite early.  I think I brought everything into play today to try to get the job done but there's about another half day's work so might try tomorrow or leave it for the next day.  I decided to go into Djebel to buy some more nylon cord for the strimmer, all was quiet but the hardware shop in the centre was open but only had one of the one that I wanted in stock so moved on to the next where I bought two and they were cheaper in the second shop which will now become my number one shop.  I did pull in to the supermarket to buy ice-cream, in fact two containers but one was going over the road for Avatar but it was locked up like Fort Knox so just bought two and hers in in the freezer with mine.  I did succumb to a cornet to eat on the way home but remembered that a police car had pulled someone up when I was driving in so was pretty quick in eating it and the police car was just making its way back to Djebel as I put the last of the cornet into my mouth.

I put a load of washing in the machine and that was dry about eleven and could have been put away but I left it in the porch.  Cat appeared for food but we were back to the biscuits so only half eaten so couldn't have been that hungry and off it went to scour the rest of the village.  Looking at my Fitbit, I've done seventeen and a half thousand steps which equates to roughly twelve kilometres....no wonder I'm feeling knacked.  Tools away by six thirty, topped up with water, it's been so hot today, not really interested in supper so far, I'm more likely to have a bath and linger for an hour or so to delay the aches and pains that are bound to surface tomorrow morning,  As I was putting grass cuttings over the wall today I noticed what I think is a mole on the wall, well done for catching it but I know they're not tasty so note to cat, please throw it over the wall not leave it there to decay and attract flies.  LN....Now to run that bath and begin my evening.....and then try to find something good on Netflix.....LN

Monday 6th July

Up nice and early, a friend was coming over and we were off to Kardjali to try and book appointments with doctors at the Polyclinic.  The clinic was heaving, there are eight doctor's surgeries in a long corridor and it being Monday morning, lots of things can happen over the weekend.  The surgeries are in the basement, the receptionist books you in when you've already made your appointments but in this case she wanted to make one for today if possible but the only one on offer was at three thirty in the afternoon but we were then offered an appointment on the 8th at eight thirty and it seemed a much better bet.  The residency card was handed over, details were taken and for once, the booking lady had a smile on her face....she'd successfully managed to book an appointment for an English lady without knowing any English.  It does help that I have a smattering of Bulgarian and her fear that she has a person in front of her that doesn't speak her language should now disappear.  That done we walked to a café near the bus station which also doubles as a toilet since the ones in the bus station don't come highly recommended and have to be avoided at all costs.  This café is now on my list of useful places to know near the bus station.

Back to the car and we changed venue to the hardware store where I could look at the range of strimmers and mowers on offer but there were no real bargains to be had.  I was tempted but thought I'd do more research on line before making a decision,  the graveyard in the woodstore is getting quite full.  I'd filled up with gas and petrol on the way in so good to go, so we drove home and were back for around eleven thirty, chatted over coffee and off she went at one.  I popped over to see Avatar, I took the ice-cream that I'd bought for her over with me, she was having lunch and invited me to join her but I'd bought some smoked pork slices that I'd not had before and was looking forward to them in a sandwich and that's what I did.  

I did think about finishing off the grass but that would be searching for a tool that worked and I really wasn't in the mood so I put Netflix on and came across a most weird film.  Unfortunately I fell asleep but it still made sense when I woke up so I finished watching it, it was half four and I was a little disorientated and unsure what day it was and why was it so late but I came round, made coffee and now it's almost seven.  

So on Wednesday we are setting off early for an eight thirty appointment and I'm going to get booked in for dental assessment which is long overdue.  I've got a few gaps at the side where I've had extractions and they need filling with something and maybe a little cosmetic needs to be done.  Old age takes its toll.  LN....Time to water the pots, it's been a hot old day despite the scattered clouds.....LN

Tuesday 7th July

Nice early start again but too early really and I've been sleeping on and off for most of the day.  I settled for water as my chosen beverage of the morning, cat was out there and meowing for food so I found a local sausage in the fridge, in fact I found two but one for destined for the slow cooker.  I added cat biscuits to the cat dish with the peeled sausage, put it down on the terrace and I think it had already been round the village.  It left two chunks of meat and some biscuits in the dish so couldn't have been starving and the rest was thrown onto the garden for anything that has a mind to hoover it up.

I made fried and tomatoes on toast for my breakfast, was sitting at the table in the stairwell when Avatar came over and handed me a bag of vegetables acquired from the neighbours which she didn't want and had brought them over for the tortoise.  There were beans, though not very fat ones, two a cucumbers which were exceptionally fat and a marrow so I chunked up one of the cucumbers up and on checking tonight, they obviously found it gave it a  good going over.  Tomorrow morning they can have the remainder.  Avatar had come over to also pay for the ice-cream that I'd delivered yesterday but I reminded her that she'd given her present of the vegetables away without payment and I did the same with the ice-cream.  I have to use the same logic.  Just as a side-line, the barrier that I erected to stop the  tortoise making their way to the terrace was again dismantled and two of the beauties were roaming the back wall of the house in the shade, it is after all the coolest part of the garden.  I didn't bother repairing it, Houdini and co have their own ways of coping with my coping strategies.

I took the other sausage, skinned it and cubed it and put it in the slow cooker with some of the tomatoes from this morning and beetroot that I slow cooked yesterday.  I covered it with water and added a few cubed potatoes and now have a 'potage' of sorts that I might have later.  It depends how I feel.  I realised that I was fresh out of books on the Kindle so looked for specials and found one by my archaeological historian that was reduced to ninety nine pence and another for the same price that I'd meant to order earlier, The 'Florentines' from Dante to Galileo.  The other one I wanted was about Vlad the Impaler but I couldn't find it on this search.  As for the weather today, hot and sultry so I made a decision to settle on the sofa with the Kindle having chosen the Alice Roberts book first, and had periods of sleep and activity with the book and I feel much better for it.  I did think about the rest of the grass but other than attacking it with the grass mower which proved to be very strenuous the other day, I'm in Kardjali tomorrow and will buy a took that will stand up to the task.

Supper first, just a small bowl and I'll blend the rest and freeze it down as soup.  LN....Early start tomorrow for the eight thirty appointment at the Poly-clinic....LN

Wednesday 8th July

Another full on day.  I was moving the Nipper out of the drive at seven ten this morning, I was on a mission with my friend to get to an appointment in Kardjali by eight thirty and I didn't want to delay her by not leaving more or less as she pulled up.  She was on time and parked up by my wall, off we set and I was surprised by the amount of traffic....it appears we'd beaten the rush into Kardjali.  I found a parking place near the Polyclinic, tried to get my parking app to work but it didn't want to play so we walked to the hospital and with the help of two locals I managed to get a parking ticket from the machine for three hours putting cash into the machine.  I waited for her to finish with the  doctor, I made an appointment for myself for Monday morning with my doctor, we walked down tot he market with the intention of finding the Shtil shop but it was all boarded up and for sale so no joy there then.

She went to get the results of her blood test, I tried to put more money on my parking but and contacted the App. help who suggested that some of the settings were wrong, quite confusing  but in the end we were back to the Nipper before the time was up having managed to have a coffee and find the location of where my dentist now had his practice and I can see him on Monday after my visit to the clinic....the stars appear to be aligning!!  We drove back to Djebel and went to a local cantina for lunch, went to the chemist for a prescription and I went in to by some cream that Avatar had asked me for, something stronger for her knee than the one that I'd given her to use.  I just think she had done too much, give it exercise but at our age we can only do so much.  We drove back to mine, my friend set off for home after a coffee and I decided to settle on the sofa and get my head down but instead put a Netflix film on and really relaxed into it.  I lovely story, no doom and gloom and a happy ending.

Avatar has just come over and brought me toasted cheese sandwich for supper, it will be enough, I had a good lunch.  LN....Lots of birds about in the garden this morning...I'l leave the old plants, they seem to enjoy the seeds......LN

Thursday 9th July

Early night for me last night, I slept though until two this morning, read until three and back to sleep until six fifteen.  On the whole not bad for me and felt good when I fully woke up this morning.  I made coffee, didn't bother with my usual morning drink, took it back upstairs and carried on reading my new Alice Roberts.  I'm finding it a little laboured and intense but at last at eighteen percent I'm beginning to understand it better.  I think I expected more digging and delivering more that the how and why after the fall of Rome, Christianity came what it is today.  

It was fairly cloudy this morning so I reckoned that I could get a couple of hours on cutting back the grass before it either cleared up or rained.  I unfurled the cable and took the grass mower out and thought this was the best way to go.  All strimmers are damaged, I found the Stihl machine but couldn't find the lid that keeps the reel in place and wasn't really in the mood to search for it so decided to go the electric mower, I've developed my own technique but it's easier if you remove the large blue flowering weeds first with the shears....otherwise they get tangled up with the blade and that leads to even more problems.  Anyway....game on and I worked on the left hand side of the grass and after about an hour and a half I could see what was left to do.   I had a brief interlude and popped over to see Avatar to check up on her knee and to ask if the 'horse' cream that she'd asked  me to get yesterday had worked.  It seems to have worked for her, I might have to get some and keep in reserve...you never know Norman.  She'd been down on her knees weeding the cucumbers and managed to get up again which she couldn't have done yesterday.  I was quite surprised when she said that she'd put some of the very young grass in her omelette this morning....not for me thank you.

I stayed for only a short while, she gave me a cheesy bun for breakfast for when I got home but I went straight back to it.  I'd thought about going into Kardjali to try for buy a strimmer but with a metal cutting disk to make my life easier but then decided against it, I finished off one half of the grass and that was enough for one day. I put the tools away, wound the cable onto the spool and wheeled them tot he woodstore.  It had really warmed up out there and I needed shade so I grabbed some water, my Kindle and some cushions from the box, removed my boots and socks and I think that was when I decided that I definitely was staying home...no Kardjali for me.  I read for a while until the book just got too complicated, I came in settled on the sofa with more water, ate my cheesy bread, noticed a tortoise on the terrace so I air-lifted it to safety but firstly but a blow of pail blue nail varnish on it shell and low and behold, it's just appeared on the terrace and this will be the third time that it's had helping hands.  I shall be reinforcing the barrier tomorrow morning.  

Six ten, I'm early this evening, the heater is on for a bath tonight and then relax.  The end is in sight with one half of the grass finished and it I manage to get a decent strimmer tomorrow it shouldn't take too much effort to finish it.  Once it's down it will be back to the normal routine as long as the weather stabilises but that appears to be in the lap of the gods.  Not too interested in supper this evening so far, I'll find something when the hunger bugs start nibbling.  LN.....And now relax.....LN

Friday 10th July
duty calls
Woke up to a very dull day, the sun looked rather like the moon, mist in the valley, couldn't hardly see the bottom of the garden so I made my jungle juice and had a very slow morning.  The only thing on my agenda today was to get some more of the grass cut down, it wasn't imperative that I did it but duty calls.  I got washed and dressed, put the washing in the machine, fed the tortoise and filled up the water containers but didn't see many of them out and about today.  Breakfast was yogurt with the last of the breakfast cereal with water to follow the coffee was to come much later.

I stretched myself out on the sofa to read more of Alice Roberts but I just couldn't get into it this morning so I put Netflix on and carried on with viewing The Last Kingdom one of my favourite series.  I'd started it again last night, watched a few episodes and rationed myself to three today and at twelve, my time was up so I brought the tools that remained serviceable into the garden and attached the electricity cable and was out there for about three hours.  The sun had come up but there were a few dark clouds overhead so it wasn't too bad but the starter button on the mower refused to connect so that was laid up and the only strimmer that appears to be working was getting hotter so that was put to rest.  I resorted to the hedge trimmer for a while and eventually used the garden sheers and now only have about ten square meters of the long grass to complete.  

I came in at four, had a shower and was dressed and ready for an evening out and left at five and was at my friend's place but five thirty, the timing was superb.  I'd parked up at the easier place to leave from this evening, he was out searching for one of his dogs and when he got my message we realised that he was looking for me in the wrong place so I waited until he got to me and escorted me into the building.  He prepared supper with veg from his own garden, pork chops with potatoes, peas, carrots and cabbage.  I didn't manage it all but had enough to last through the film that we'd planned to watch.  He'd done out his cinema room with a very large tv, surround sound and a very comfortable sofa with leg supports which made a long film Oppenheimer easy to watch.  I left around ten thirty, home for just after eleven which is late for me to be out and now it's time I went up my wooden hills and had a reasonably early night for me.  LN....The grass should be finished tomorrow and then to buy a new grass mower and this time it will be self propelled....I need all the help I can get......LN